A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds... ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sermons

This page serves as an index for every sermon I have ever preached: the prize winning, the terrible, the merely mundane, the intellectually embarrassing and the slightly above average. I am making the text of all my sermons available because I learned a great deal about preaching from reading through all of A. Powell Davies, Forest Church and William Sloane Coffin's published sermons (I also read the majority of Marilyn Sewell's). I learned as much from their bad sermons as I did from the good ones. In fact, learning that someone like Coffin occasionally preached a lousy sermon has been a great inspiration to me when I didn't want to face my own ill-crafted text. I hope that my own instances of shoddy craftsmanship will be similarly inspiring. All sermons from 2007 to 2012 were preached at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Cleveland, where I served as minister. Unless otherwise noted, my sermons from September 2017 to the present have been preached at the First Parish Church, Unitarian Universalist, Ashby, Massachusetts. In addition to my time with these two congregations, I served the Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach as an intern minister (2005-2006) and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Pottstown as a contract minister (2006-2007). I also served the First Religious Society in Carlisle (2014), First Parish in Lexington (2014), and the First Parish in Milton (2013) as a sabbatical or summer minister.

December 6: How Heavy the Heart (Foxborough Universalist Church) November 29: Through Eyes That Have Cried (Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson) November 15: Through Eyes That Have Cried (Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Lynn) November 8: Democracy as a Religious Practice (First Church in Salem) October 25: Two Bodies, One Heart (Bell St. Chapel) October 18: Democracy as a Religious Practice (Fall River Unitarian Church) October 16: Democracy as a Religious Practice (Harvard Divinity School)October 11: Charge to the Minister at the Installation of the Rev. Aaron McEmrys, with Rev. Alan Taylor (Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Virginia) June 28: ...Or Perish Together as Fools (First Parish in Cambridge) May 24: Breaking White Silence (Follen Community Church) May 17: Breaking White Silence (Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover) May 10: Two Bodies, One Heart (First Church in Salem) May 3: On The Silence of the Pulpit (First Unitarian Church in Worcester) March 29: Basho's Road (Theodore Parker Unitarian Church) March 15: The River May Not Be Turned Aside (United First Parish in Quincy (Unitarian)) March 1: Two Bodies, One Heart (Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara) February 22: Through Eyes That Have Cried (Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford) February 8: Two Bodies, One Heart (First Parish in Milton) January 18: The Omens Are All Against Us (Winchester Unitarian Society) January 4: Through Eyes That Have Cried (First Religious Society in Carlisle)

2014

October 19: Unknown Visions of Love (Community Church in Boston) October 12: This Land is Your Land? (First Parish in Wayland) September 28: Through Eyes That Have Cried (Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson)August 31: Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in the Labor Movement (First Parish in Lexington)August 24: A Black Christ (First Parish in Lexington) August 17: Through Eyes That Have Cried (First Parish in Lexington)August 3: The River May Not Be Turned Aside (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Wilmington)July 27: Unknown Visions of Love (First Parish in Lexington)July 20: Two Bodies, One Heart (First Parish in Lexington)July 13: Over My Head (First Parish in Lexington)July 6: The River May Not Be Turned Aside (First Parish in Lexington)June 22: Unknown Visions of Love (First Universalist Society, Salem, MA) March 23: Over My Head (Starr King Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Plymouth, NH) March 16: Over My Head (Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lansing) February 16: Over My Head (The First Religious Society in Carlisle)February 9: Basho’s Road (The First Religious Society in Carlisle)February 2: A Black Christ (The First Religious Society in Carlisle)January 19: Been Waitin’ So Long (The First Religious Society in Carlisle) January 12: The Gifts of Grace (The First Religious Society in Carlisle) January 5: Let’s Have a Jubilee! (The First Religious Society in Carlisle)

2013

December 1: Over My Head (Theodore Parker Unitarian Church) November 3: Unknown Visions of Love (First Parish Dorchester) October 20: Over My Head (First Universalist Church of Essex) October 13: Encountering the Kingdom (Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lynn) September 29: (Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson) August 18: Over My Head (First Church in Salem) July 28: Over My Head (First Parish Milton) July 21: Encountering the Kingdom (First Parish Milton) July 14: Present to Each Other (First Parish Milton) July 7: The Present Now (First Parish Milton) June 30: This Land is Your Land? (First Parish in Concord) April 10: Unknown Visions of Love (First Parish Milton) March 10: Unknown Visions of Love (First Parish Church United, Westford, MA) February 11: Stuff Our Congregants Do! (Harvard Divinity School) February 3: Unknown Visions of Love (Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua, NH)January 6: Let's Make It a Jubilee Year! (First Church in Salem)

December 24: Christmas Eve Service (Audio)December 21: Blue Christmas (Audio)December 4: A Feminine Divine (Audio)November 20: The Promised Land (Audio)November 13: The Moral Imagination (Audio)November 6: Without Vision the People Shall Perish (Audio)October 16: Walking Together (Audio)October 9: By Their Groups You Shall Know Them (Audio)September 25: The Root of It All (Audio)August 28: The Gospel of Inclusion (Audio)August 14: Likeness to God (Audio)June 12: To Love A Parade (Audio)June 5: Cast the Circle Wide (Audio)May 22: Zhuangzi's Dream (Audio)May 15: The Medium is the Message... But What Is the Message, Really? (Audio)April 24: Easter Sunday: Prophet, Not Messiah! (Audio)April 17: Islam and Terror (Audio)March 20: Women in IslamMarch 13: IslamMarch 6: Who Do We Serve?February 27: What Does It Mean to be a Unitarian Universalist?February 20: Unknown Visions of LoveJanuary 30: What Does It Mean to be a Religious Community?January 16: A House for Hope?January 9: Tragedy in Tucson

2010

December 24: Christmas Eve (Audio)December 21: Blue ChristmasDecember 19: A Very Dickens Christmas A Very Dickens Christmas (Audio)December 12: What the Scholar TaughtDecember 5: The Infinite and the Finite (Audio)November 21: Thanksgiving: GratitudeNovember 14: The Lotus Flower (Audio)November 7: Ending the Drug WarOctober 24: The Many and the OneOctober 10: Privilege and OppressionOctober 3: Association Sunday: The Religion for Our TimeSeptember 26: In the BeginningSeptember 19: Reflections OfAugust 29: One Light, Many WindowsAugust 22: The Root of It AllAugust 8: Love in ActionJuly 25: Question BoxJune 13: The Bible and the End of TimesJune 6: By the Time I Get to ArizonaMay 16: The Buddha Should be as Useful as a Can (Audio)April 18: The Pause That RefreshesApril 11: To Be HumanApril 4: Other Voices, Other Views, Other EastersMarch 14: Listening to PhoebeMarch 7: What I Shouldn't SayFebruary 7: Black Humanism (re-published in the UU World)January 30: Love, Sex and the BibleJanuary 17: A Time for ChangeJanuary 10: How Fundamentalists Read the Bible2009

December 24: Christmas EveDecember 21: Blue ChristmasDecember 21: Who Are My Neighbors? (no text available)December 7: Wrestling with MaterialismNovember 30: What Is To Be Done?November 23: Gone to CroatanNovember 9: Drum Major for Justice or Drum Major for Empire?October 19: A Shared Ministry with Rachel WebbOctober 12: Association Sunday: Radical HospitalityOctober 5: God Loves EveryoneSeptember 14: Society Sunday: Remembering the Black Humanist Fellowship of LiberationAugust 24: Original BlessingAugust 17: Bring Many NamesAugust 10: Rejecting a Culture of ViolenceJune 15: Reimaging the CityJune 8: Towards Beloved CommunityMay 18: Approaching PrayerMay 11: Julia Ward Howe and the Story of Mothers' DayMay 4: Reality is What You Make of It; Or the Strange Case of Emperor Norton IApril 27: God of the OppressedApril 20: HaggadahMarch 23: Considering ResurrectionMarch 19: Remembering the DeadMarch 16: From You I Receive, To You I GiveMarch 2: Comforting the Afflicted, Afflicting the ComfortableFebruary 24: Freedom and FormFebruary 10: Fear ItselfFebruary 3: Imago Dei

2007

December 24: Christmas EveDecember 21: Blue ChristmasDecember 9: The Gifts of GraceDecember 2: Radical HopeNovember 11: A Community of StrangersNovember 4: There is No HellOctober 14: Nurture Your Spirit, Help Heal Our World with Rev. Joan Van BecelaereOctober 7: No One Is IllegalSeptember 30: The Transient and the Permanent in Liberal ReligionSeptember 23: From Cleveland to Chiapas and Back AgainSeptember 16: The Trouble with BeginningsJuly 15: On Traveling On (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Pottstown)July 1: Radical Love (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Pottstown)June 3: Celebrating Membership (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Pottstown)May 13: Julia Ward Howe and the Story of Mother's Day (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Pottstown)February 18: This We Do Covenant (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Pottstown)January 21: The Case for Reparations (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Pottstown)

2006

December 10: Towards Utopia (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Pottstown)November 5: The Leaven and the Light (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Pottstown)October 29: Cycle of Life (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Pottstown)October 1: Of Pacayal and Pluralism (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Pottstown)September 24: Hello Goodbye (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Pottstown) May 14: Mother's Day (Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach)April 23: No One Is Illegal (Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach)April 2: Humanism? Theism? (Unitarian Universalist Church in Anaheim)March 19: Remembering the Dead (Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach) January 22: The Need for Reparations (Unitarian Universalist Church of Orange County)January 15: The Need for Reparations (Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach)

2005

December 11: Remembering Rexroth (Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach)December 4: Humanism? Theism? (Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church)November 27: Love Does Not Punish (Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach) October 2: Humanism? Theism? (Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach)

2004June 27: God In The Numbers (Unitarian Universalist Church of Great Lansing)